Stella McCartney with her dad, Sir Paul

Fashion designer Stella McCartney is expecting a fourth child, according to media reports.

The 38-year-old fashion designer (and daughter of Beatle Sir Paul McCartney) is to add to her brood with husband Alasdhair Willis later this year. 

The couple already have two sons, Miller, five, and Beckett, two, and a three-year-old daughter, Bailey.

McCartney admitted in February that she was keen to add to her family, saying: “I’m kind of interested in having more children. Though right now I feel like I’ve only just stopped having them, so I’m ready to have a bit of a break first.”

Pretty, but not good for the back.

Pregnant women who want to emulate celebrities by wearing high heels are putting their feet at risk, an expert says.

Lorraine Jones, from Britain’s Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists, said women felt pressure to wear stilettos but were risking long-term damage, as well as strains to their ankles and ligaments.

Furthermore, pregnant women routinely wore other unsuitable footwear, such as flip flops, ballet pumps and Ugg boots.

A poll of 1,000 pregnant women for the Society found 66% regularly wore flip flops, 32% high heels, 53% ballet pumps and 30% Ugg boots.

But Ms Jones said none of the above were suitable because they offered little support.

“Weight gain and hormonal changes in pregnancy have a huge impact on the body.

“Muscles and ligaments soften and stretch because of an increase in the ovarian hormone, relaxin, which makes your feet more prone to ankle and ligament strains on a daily basis,” she said.

“High heels alter your posture, shorten your calf muscles and place increased pressure on your back and knees.

“In pregnancy this places extra pressure on your joints when they are already under strain, which can result in a host of foot, leg and back problems and could increase the likelihood of falls. Shoes like ballet pumps, flip flops and Ugg boots are also unsuitable for daily wear in pregnancy because they don’t provide your feet with the necessary support.”

The survey of pregnant women found around half felt pressured to keep up with celebrity trends.

Carrey is a happy man.

Hollywood star Jim Carrey, 47, is a grandfather after his 22-year-old daughter Jane gave birth to son Jackson Riley Santana in a Los Angeles hospital on Sunday.

The proud grandad posted a photo of the newborn on his Twitter micro-blogging page.

Jackson weighed in at a 7lbs, 11ozs and mother and baby are said to be well.

Carrey wrote: “Jackson Riley Santana, My Grandson, Born today! This is what 7lbs.11oz. of California dynamite looks like!”

Carrey’s girlfriend Jenny McCarthy dubbed herself an honorary grandmother.

She wrote on her Twitter page: “Yes, I’m a grandma! Beautiful healthy baby boy. Dr Jay Gordon is the paediatrician. Thank god! Jackson is in great hands.”

Baby Jackson is the first child for Jane and her husband Alex Santana, who married last November.

Machine aims to tell us why babies cry.

It’s the question that most distresses new parents: why is our baby crying?

Well, scientists working on a monitor that can interpret crying may just have the answer.

The technology, being developed by Japanese scientists, works by recording the sound of babies’ cries and their emotional state at the time.

They say this will lead to a simple formula to work out exactly what a baby wants when it gets upset.

The team at Muroran Institute of Technology, in Hokkaido, claim they have already been successful at differentiating between cries of pain and others. It’s only a matter of time before they identify the rest.

“As any new parent knows, babies have a very loud method of revealing their emotional state - crying,” says Prof Tomomasa Nagashima, who is involved with the study.

“Unfortunately, the parenting handbook does not offer guidance on how to determine what the crying means.

“The technique might one day be incorporated into a portable electronic device or app to help parents and carers decide on a course of action when their child is crying.”

Dannii Minogue is expecting her first child this year.

The seventh X Factor series returns to UK screens later this year and there are already rumours about judge Dannii Minogue’s possible replacement.

There is growing doubt over the Australian singer’s future with the show as the birth of her first child clashes with the auditions.

She said: “When the live auditions will be happening I will be in Australia giving birth, so I’m not being able to do that, unfortunately.

“There is no way I could give birth and tour around the UK looking for acts for the show.

“I’ve not quit X Factor and I’d still love to be a part of the live shows further down the line. But that’s down to Simon Cowell and the producers really.”

Swine flu hits pregnant women hard.

New research from Australia confirms that swine flu hits pregnant women particularly hard - especially if they have asthma, obesity or diabetes.

 While more than three-quarters of the women in the study had been treated with oseltamivir (Tamiflu), two-thirds had been sick for at least 48 hours before getting the drug.

Flu medication should be started as soon as possible after symptoms begin to give patients the most benefit, the researchers say.

Past studies have found that pregnant women with influenza may be at greater risk of complications like pneumonia, although the effects of the flu on the fetus are less well understood.

To investigate the effects of the H1N1 influenza A strain in pregnancy, the researchers looked at 43 pregnant women with lab-confirmed H1N1 admitted to six different hospitals during the 2009 outbreak.

Two women were admitted during their first trimester, 13 during their second and 28 in their third. Twenty-five had been hospitalized due to flu-like illness; all but one of these women spent less than a week in the hospital. But among the 11 patients admitted for pneumonia, seven were hospitalized for at least a week.

Half of the women had at least one other health problem, such as asthma, obesity, or diabetes mellitus, but these women did not seem to be at increased risk of pneumonia or pregnancy complications compared to women without other health problems.

Fifteen of the women delivered their babies during hospitalization, six before 37 weeks’ gestation and 9 at 37 weeks or later.

The researchers had outcome information on 24 babies at the end of July 2009. Twenty-one were alive, two had died in the womb (at 26 and 31 weeks’ gestation), and one died 26 days after delivery due to prematurity-related complications (this infant had been born at 26 weeks’ gestation). Seven of the babies, including the infant who died, were tested for H1N1, and none of them were infected.

The findings “underscored the importance of education regarding recommendations for vaccination in pregnancy and the need for rapid testing and earlier use of antivirals in suspected influenza,” Dr Michelle Giles of Monash Medical Center in Clayton, Victoria, and her colleagues wrote.

But thanks to a pioneering treatment, she is a mum to 10-week-old daughter Raiya.

“She’s my little miracle. I can’t explain how I feel. I’m overwhelmed. It seems like a dream and I still have to pinch myself. She’s perfect in every way,” she told British media this week.

Miss Baker, 33, from Peacehaven near Brighton, had her miscarriages over 13 years.

However, after the 17th miscarriage a friend read a newspaper article about Dr Hassan Shehata’s work at Epsom and St Helier University Hospitals NHS Trust in Surrey, England.

Miss Baker was referred to him and a test found she was suffering from high levels of a subtype of white blood cell, a problem for 15 per cent of women.

These cells were mistaking the foetus for a foreign body and attacking it.

Dr Shehata’s treated her using steroids. His approach is pioneering because it starts before conception and the doses used are higher.

Miss Baker became pregnant for an 18th time but it was then discovered she was diabetic, and the high sugar levels caused by the steroids resulted in another miscarriage.

However, Dr Shehata was able to adjust her levels of insulin and the next pregnancy was successful. Raiya was born on December 9, weighing 7lb.

Junior appears to be thriving.

After a long break - nearly nine months to be precise - we’re back.

It’s been a rollercoaster, but junior is doing well and appears to be enjoying life.

So, keep clicking for all the news about who is pregnant, pregnancy and what’s up in the world of babies.

The Daily Mail newspaper said Elizabeth Adeney, who gave birth to baby Jolyon at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge by caesarean on May 26, had been at her office all last week.

The newspaper said Adeney, a wealthy businesswoman, returned to her job as managing director of a plastics company last week, leaving Jolyon in the care of a nanny.

Mothers are normally told to take at least three months off after giving birth.